Housing Decision

Shared apartment or homestay?

When filling out the forms for this whole strange thing I'm doing, called 'study abroad,' and believe me, there were many, this was a question that came up straight away. For me, it wasn't even a question, however, as I had known since day one that I wanted the latter.

The shared apartments offered more independence, living with people in my program, spacious accommodations and well-furnished rooms. In a homestay, I live with a local family, with two meals provided a day and my own room. However, that wasn't what I wanted when I choose it. Living with a host family provided me with a chance to make connections with people across the world, to improve my language skills, to learn about this new culture through immersion, to gain an insiders' advice on living in my new city, and so many other things.

So far, I've achieved all of that and more, in my five weeks with my wonderful hostfamily. I met them on my second day in Berlin, after a long full day of orientation information. Before I left, I received some basic information about them, the family structure, parents' jobs, children's ages, normal day schedule, etc, in a letter that my hostmother had written to through the program. They, in turn, had received an even less informative form about me, regarding my home life, my family structure, my experience abroad, and my interests. Other than that, we knew nothing about each other upon my move-in.

Sure, it was awkward at first. Moving in with complete strangers in a completely new country, yeah, it was strange. However, after the first day passed, I settled into the rhythm of the house and from there, we've started to get to know each other day by day. They have never been anything but welcoming and open, and I adore it here.

When I compare my experience to the rest of the peers in my program (most of whom are in an apartment), I feel like I'm truly experiencing being abroad and cultural immersion. Everyday at dinner, I learn new German words, or information on the city or culture. As their English improves, so does my German, although at a slower pace. On weekends, we have simple outings, to local parks, markets, theater performances, etc. It's the smaller things, but I adore them.

Choosing a homestay is one decision that I will never regret and highly recommend to others.